I’m an introvert who is also a fan of classic music, jazz, and house music. The type of house music I listen to has a lot of range and layers and less bass, so I need the best head phones. I need my head phones to block out background noise, sound fantastic, and provide value for the cost.

Just so you know my biases: I only listen to music heavy on bass when at the gym, and I have a pair of workout headphones for that function. The head phones I use and recommend may not be the best head phones for rap or hip-hop.

(“Wicked Games” by Parra for Cuva featuring Anna Naklab is the type of song I use my head phones to listen to.)

I put the call out to D&P readers and did my own research.

I went to CNET, read the reviews on Amazon, went to Best Buy, and otherwise beat a dead horse.

There are thousands of headphones reviews online, so I am not going to write about range, amps, or other specific factors. My experience suggests that head phone reviews get way too complicated, especially for users like myself. If you disagree, post your comment telling me why. I’m far from an expert.

After trying out several different pairs of head phones, I narrowed the contenders down to these three:

I’ve owned the Sennheiser HD280 head sets for five years. I love this pair of head phones. You get great treble without too much bass. You can hear the layers in classical music and house music.

The V-MODA Crossfade M-100 is a favorite of DJs worldwide. They look amazing and have an engravable plate on the side. (Aesthetics were unimportant to me and don’t factor into this review.)

My friend Nic G is a music lover who prefers his V-MODAS to any other head phones he has owned. Indeed, I used his head phones for this review.

Price didn’t mean much to me. I’ve had the Sennheiser HD280 for around 5 years. I don’t lose head phones. When they travel with me, they are put in the same place each time.

That said, my research revealed that the marginal benefit of headphones decreases once the price exceeds $300. Unless you’re listening to music on a high technology home stereo system, anything over $300 is overkill.

(I do like some bass. “Pushing On” by Jimi Jules is fantastic.)

Which head phones cost the most?

Sennheiser HD280 – $89.95.

Audio-Technica ATH-M50x Professional Headphones – $169.

V-MODA Crossfade M-100 – $299.

Which head phones are the best at isolation/noise canceling?

There’s a certain paradox to being an introvert. Although social situations wear us introverts out, we are still social creatures. Show of hands: How many of you introverts prefer working out of a coffee shop? [Mike’s hand raises.]

We don’t hate people. We just hate the jibber jabber and verbal nonsense of extroverts. We like to be out in public but we don’t necessarily want to engage.

Like I said, it’s weird.

The Sennheiser HD280 win by a landslide. They cancel out outside noise so well that taking them off is like coming out of a matinee into the sun.

(The airport is silent when wearing a pair of Sennheiser HD280s.)

Neither the Audio-Technica ATH-M50x or V-MODA had much of noise canceling effect.

To put things into perspective: When my Sennheiser HD280s are plugged into my MacBook, the music dial is set on 2. The AudioTech and V-MODA have to turned up to 3 or 4.

Granted, AudioTech and V-MODA don’t market themselves as noise canceling head phones, so some might say that it’s unfair for me to point out that they don’t something they don’t advertise themselves to do. Whatever. It’s my review and I can weigh the head phones based on whatever factors I want to.

Which head phones are the most comfortable?

One complaint you’ll see in reviews is that the Sennheiser HD280 are too tight on the head. My melon is a 7 5/8 hat size, and the HD280s don’t feel constricting. Snug, yes, but snug is good.

After a while, I forget they are even on my head.

When I take them out and then hear the noise of the world.

The V-MODA and Audio-Technica ATH-M50x rest comfortably on the ear. That’s a tradeoff. It’s not a snug fit, but more noise seeps through.

The V-MODAs are the most comfortable head phones, with the ATH-M50x a close second. The Sennheiser HD280 fits snugly, although that’s a feature rather than a bug.

(“Ode to Joy” is a great track to listen to when testing head phones.)

Which headphones are the best for an introvert?

Sennheiser HD280 is the clear winner. Sound quality is fantastic. They are the least expensive head set. They cancel out noise the best.

I kept my Audio-Technica ATH-M50x, as I missed the 30 day period to send them back. I wanted to fully break them in before doing a review.

The sound quality is slightly better, but they don’t cancel out the outside world as much as I and other introverts prefer.

V-MODAs look cool, but in my view are inferior in all other regards to the ATH-M50x and Sennheiser HD280.

Which head phones do you use and recommend?

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Generally i’m a Sennheiser guy, whether it be plain earphones or headphones. For me as I predominantly use earphones I look for ones that won’t break easily, as i’ve lost so many headphones to that snapping of the wiring inside near the plug. Find that Sennheiser gives the best trade off full stop in terms of sturdiness to quality.

Danger & Play Blog

Yeah, you can’t go wrong with Sennheiser.

Molnár András

I have found AKG headphones to be durable as well.

My father has an ancient AKG from the early 1980’s, still working and sounds great.

lemmycaution

Interesting about the coffeshop thing. I do that too. Places where it is socially acceptable to be around people but not talk to them must be something introverts like.

Danger & Play Blog

Yeah, “man is a social animal.” Introverts need to be social, but we burn out quicker.

Costello

Somewhat unrelated but this article made me realise this site has helped me understand my introversion and how to maximise it.

Distanced from the noise of the world, often finding comfort in solitude but when required and necessary, ready to explode out of the gates with audacity. At rest until the work is needed to be done, and then charged with the energy to do it.

Danger & Play Blog

That’s great. Once you learn how to focus your power, you can beat extroverts at their own game.

Ao393

Thanks a bunch Mike! I will be buying those headphones in the future – I as an introvert myself HATE hearing people talk when they have nothing of value to say. Nice music choices BTW.

Mofo

Yep, been using these in my home recording studio for years. They’ll take a beating too.

Danger & Play Blog

Mine look like they’ve been chewed up by a dog. They still sound great.

I use the HD280 pros for everything from casual listening to tracking and mixing. There was some debate from my friends who had owned older pairs who claimed that they were made in different factories to the ones currently in production, however my most recent pair (purchased December 2013) haven’t let me down. Took them all through Cambodia too.

Barbarian Bro

I was reading your post and thought… those headphones look familiar…I’ve
had the Hd280 for ages. Even though I only use them for my home studio
and they never leave home, one of the factors that decided the
purchase was that most parts are replaceable.

Danger & Play Blog

I didn’t know that; good info. I may update. Durability is a good factor I didn’t post on. I should update the post. Thanks.

Chris Adams

Thanks for the “grunt work” (your research). A Sennheiser HD280 via Amazon is on its way.

I teach at a middle school, and of course they all think Dr. Dre’s headphones are the best. Too bass heavy. I tell them if they want to still listen to music at my age (47), they should consider lightening up on the bass.

Danger & Play Blog

Thanks man, appreciate it. Yeah, Beats by Dre don’t even deserve to be in same breath as these sets.

G380

Mike-
This is great stuff. This post made me think as much as you love house and trance music why you never got some digital workstation software like Apple Logic X or Abelton Live and made some house tracks. I have with Apples software and its so much fun.

Question on lifting-
When you were younger could you max lift a ton of weight?

Have you gotten weaker with your max lifts now?

Ive heard some guys say not to lift maximal loads for tendon preservation at a certain point. My Uncle was a power lifter when he was young and bitches about injuries and being old in his 50s but Ive heard other guys say-if you build your tendons up slowly and use care you can maximal lift well into old age-
what’s your take?

Danger & Play Blog

All of my creative energy goes to D&P. I may mix music as an outlet later on, though.

I was never much into maxing out. That pounds the joints. Saw too many guys limping around in their 40s.

FlorianUlrich

Great article, cool review. Thanks! Did you know that Beethoven composed his Ninth Symphony when he was completely deaf? It is amazing with how much the mind can come up even when it is largely cut off from the outside world. Beethoven always was a social person and had a loyal circle of friends, but he had to basically come up with the music by himself after his mid-thirties. But what he wrote was largely NOVEL, not recycled from the past, but pointing decades into the future.

Danger & Play Blog

I did know that; inspirational. I just learned from Victor that one of the guys who started KISS was deaf in one year.

FlorianUlrich

I did not recall that, thanks for the reminder – I realize that was Paul Stanley, apparently one of the driving forces of the band (the other being Gene Simmons, according to Gene Simmons). If you really want something badly, nothing will keep you from getting it. I really believe that. Or at least you will never feel you miss a thing – in the words of the famous philosopher Michael Jagger: “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try some time, you get what you need.” 😉

Paolo Broccardo

Great selection of tracks – our taste is very similar.

Technochicken

Hi Mike, and thanks for your interesting blog (in general). I hope to be able to contribute a little. The Beyerdynamic DT 770 is also an excellent headphone. Cancels noise / closed system and is very clear. It is frequently used in the professional sector (At least, here in Holland).

Scott Phillips

It’s awesome that you know Nick G – one of the deepest thinkers and best teachers in Jiu Jitsu. Props!

KeepQuestioningTheWorld

The main reason people get confused when looking at headphones is that there are different types for different circumstances.

I imagine the majority of people that came here for a headphone recommendation do no own a Amp or DAC and are just looking to use their headphones with their phone/laptop.

In which case you are looking for 32 Ohms resistance headphones.

Basically just buy something with a respectable name for under £100. Anything over that price will not make any difference without a Amp/DAC.

The generalisation amongst the Audiophiles of the world are:

Sennheiser tend to be slightly on the bassy side.

Beryerdynamic are very bright, light and natural.

Audio-Technica tend to be very neutral, a bit of everything.

If you are interested in spending more on headphone just reply to this comment.

coment8r

Late but a lot of misinformation here:

You can’t use impedance alone to judge, you must also factor sensitivity. Eg Sony MDR7506 is 63ohm but 106db – easily powered by any modern portable device. An amp can always help any headset, but the absolute 32ohm limit is nonsense.
And those ‘generalizations among audiophiles’, Beyerdynamic is ‘light’?? Sennheiser is ‘bassy’??? not sure where you got those, but I’ve never seen anything of the sort for those manufacturers. Generalizations are dangerously subjective anyway, especially since each mfr has multiple product lines, often at similar price points, aimed at different listeners/users.

Viz.

Thank you Mike for your pragmatism. I did my own ‘review’ online recently for wireless and decided Sennheiser were the way to go for quality vs price. Beats didn’t match up on that front like you said.

For wired I love my Bose QC15’s which are great for long haul flights in cattle class or blocking out my noisy kids (no neglect – wifey has it covered) when working in the home office. They are overpriced though and don’t have direct through-put or whatever it’s called when the battery dies. The smell of the leather, the comfort on the ears and the richness of the sound is pretty hedonistic though.

Any advice for wireless headphones to be used at the gym and doing banal stuff that necessitates being unentangled such as laundry, dishes etc?

By the way, I’m on holiday this week in the tropics of far north QLD. Saw an outdoor body weights so I smashed out some pull ups and dips in an otherwise empty ‘gym’ with my 3 year old son who is still fighting to smash out a dip soon. Some kids saw us and ran over and had a go. Then 2 young guys in early 20s saw us and came over to have a go. Curious how most people are waiting for someone else to go first, by leading.

Danger & Play Blog

I use LG Tone blue tooth head phones at the gym. Light weight; don’t even realize you’re wearing them.

Last week I was just looking for Sennheiser headphones. Cant be coincidence. I bought the Sennheiser set for home-use and for my Iphone. Amazon does not send to the Netherlands. Luckily I was able to order books on Kindle that are recommended at D&P. Thank you Mike. Just curious – what do think of Wagner…despite his relation with Nietzsche. I see it as a bridge from classical to trance (A&B-like music for example).

Here is something different. These are possibly the ultimate introvert product. I run 3M Peltor Workshop / Tactical Sport bluetooth earmuffs. They have the noise suppression of a good set of earmuffs plus the sound quality of a good set of headphones. I work 10 hour days in a heavy engineering workshop and these are awesome. They have an external mic so I can take calls and they will work like a hearing aid so you can still hear conversation like you don’t have them on. The batteries easily last a day. The best thing about them is I don’t have to listen to the half whits on the pop radio station! Not cheap at $500USD but worth it.

Mike Cernovich

Intense!

SongTalkingMan

Do you know of any other good bluetooth headsets?

Rob

On the economical side, these: http://amzn.to/1raThh1 “MEElectronics Sport-Fi M6 Noise-Isolating In-Ear Headphones with Memory Wire” have worked well for me doing audiobook editing and proofing. I use them at the gym as well.

Certainly no connoisseur but the quality has been good enough that we’ve gotten plenty of 5 star ratings for productions. I’m guessing for podcasting (listening and editing), these would work similarly well.

I own a set of Sennheiser PXC 250-II, they’re compact and have active noise cancellation which is great for environments where you have consistant noise, like on planes. They also come with an adapter for the plane audio system.

They sound great but they’re not cheap so I’d only recommend them if you do a lot of travelling on planes and space is a concern.

Mike Cernovich

Dragging my Sennheiser HD280s around is becoming more of a hassle as I’ve been traveling a lot more.

Mike the Bike

Sennheiser HD558
I think they are comfortable and good value. They are completely immersive (mechanically, but without active electronical noise cancelling). They are one of the best headphones I’ve tried. However, I really haven’t tried that many. I used to have as pair of HD215 at work and really liked them, so I simply got an upgrade when I bought my private set.

The Senns will be perfectly fine for most people… but ATH-M50 sounds much better. I spent a full week testing headphones last time I was in the market

Mike Cernovich

Interesting. I think they sound similar and prefer the Sennheiser because of the noise canceling effect.

ghostlife

The differences come in when you are using a headphone amp. ATH-M50 are great cans for mixing and other studio work. Both sets are great for listening to music. Actually, my old AKGs (broken now) were the best studio headphones I ever had, but the Audio-Technicas have been a solid replacement.

It’s also a matter of preference to some degree, they have different characteristics and some will prefer one over the other. In general, for mixing you want clean and neutral tone.

They are open headphones, so no noise cancelling, but no feedback from the cover either.

Very analytical and clear sound, thus marketed as reference headphones. Fantastic for classical music and good recordings.

Badly produced beats with very repetitive patterns and low quality recordings sound boring and dull in them as they do not amplify bass. But even then, I love the clarity. It’s as if the usual wall of sound was diversified into a lot of layers that can be heard separately. I’m a very visual person and imagine it as if the lens through which I look at the sound objects was suddenly focused and the sound objects would appear as separate entities and not intertwined. In a way, this takes the “magic” away from things, but then curiosity takes magic’s place. Like when you start to analyze social behavior.

The contrast also reminds me of my experience with Sapo frog venom where I would hear people in another room talk almost as if they were in the same and when the sound of a motor would split into a low hum and high overtones.

Andrew Miles

Some weird law of attraction shit happening right here – I decided yesterday I wanted some headphones, started researching, couldn’t find anything I liked. Then today I found this article of yours from months ago (can’t even remember how now!) and your recommendation for the HD280s has made my mind up. Sweet.

Mike Cernovich

Did you pick them up? i thought of this post as my ATH-M50x aren’t very durable. The HD280s are now clear winners, at least for people who travel a lot.

Andrew Miles

I’ve got them on order – but there seems to be an international shortage or something since they have about a 1 month shipping time! The travel thing is important to me too as I’ll be roaming around a lot for a few years.

vagabnd13

Hey Mike,
I’ve got a question for you.You mentioned in this article that you use headphones at the gym as well.Which one of theses headphones do you think is most suitable for workouts? Or would you recommend buying earbuds?
I have a pair of Sennheiser earbuds which cost me around 50$ and they have a decent bass and sound.but the problem is the gym I go to plays music loud and my earbuds barely cancel out the crappy music they play.As a result,I have to turn the volume up on my phone but I’m afraid that I might develop hearing loss and I already have minor tinnitus.Also,my earbuds tend to get waxy,which also kind of decreases the volume.
Have you had such an issue yourself? What do you think?
Personally,I love listening to music on my phone because I can better concentrate and at least it cancels out the stupid chitchat of less devoted gym-goers.

Dhaval Dn

I have got sennheiser hd 202 years back then audio technica ws77, and recently hd 461.

hd202 has less bass than ws77 but sounds so sweet and clear, has adequate bass.

ws77 is little more aggressive (long listening period can be painful), bass is more but controlled. the price does not justify when I compare with cheap hd202. Ear cups are round which I think should be oval shape to fit around ears perfectly. Further the head band is so tight that I can’t wear it more than 15 minutes continuously.

Purchased hd461g which cost between hd202 and ws77. but I feel completely cheated by sennheiser this time. sound quality is horrible and comparable unbranded chinese street headphones. There is neither sound clarity nor base. I even verified it is genuine product on their website using code on the box. I can’t believe hd461 is a sennheiser product.

Vincent Kinney

TL;DR If you’re getting headphones for MUSIC, do not buy “Studio Reference Monitors” like the Audio Technicas. Unless you know what you’re doing.

One hugely important piece of the puzzle you didn’t mention is how they are colored. No, not the color of the headphones, but the internal equalizer, the adjusting of which is called “coloring.”

The Audio Technicas, along with any TRUE Studio Reference Monitors, will be *uncolored*. They will have a perfectly neutral internal EQ setting. Flat across the board. This makes it so that when you listen to a song from a high fidelity source, you are getting the exact sounds that musician/artist cranked out in the studio that day. No extra bass, no extra nothin’.

Headphones designed for listening to MUSIC will often have highly colored equalizers, with the bass bands being lifted high with one band being lowered, mid bands given small boost, and the treble getting a larger boost than the mid but smaller than the bass. It makes ALL THE DIFFERENCE.

If you want the best of both worlds: Buy uncolored studio reference monitors, like the Audio Technicas, and get an EQ program for your computer so you can adjust bass and mid and treb as you wish.